The Bangladesh Mission in Indonesia has sent a list of names of 237 people for verification of their Bangladeshi citizenship.
“We received the list last night [Tuesday] and sent it to the Home Ministry today [Wednesday] for citizenship authentication,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
The embassy officials visited the place and took interviews of those who claimed that they were Bangladeshis, the official said.
“They compiled relevant information about them and sent them to Bangladesh for verification,” he said.
A total of 582 people were rescued on May 11 along the Indonesian coast when they were trafficked through the sea routes.
These people were given shelter at Aceh province in Indonesia.
The Bangladesh Mission in Malaysia sent a list of names of 22 people for citizenship verification early this week.
“The Home Ministry will send the lists to respective police stations and on the basis of their reports the government will undertake the repatriation process,” the official said.
There is no time limit to when the verification process will be completed but it is expected that it would be done promptly, he added.
The official admitted that it is still unclear who would bear the repatriation cost. “The government, relatives or International Organisation for Migration will bear the costs,” he said.
Bangladesh and Myanmar citizens use sea routes to get into Malaysia illegally and are often are taken hostage at the Malaysian-Thailand border to extract money from the victims.